A cartoning machine is known to employ at least one operating wheel, in this case a packing wheel, of the above type, in which the annular drum is driven, via a mechanical transmission, by a main motor of the cartoning machine, and the push means carried by the central body of the packing wheel are operated by mechanical actuating devices which are also normally connected to the main motor by cam control devices.
Not only, therefore, is the structure of known operating wheels of the above type seriously complicated by the mechanical actuating devices, but any change in format necessarily means changing the cam control devices, thus involving fairly prolonged downtime.